Despite their talent, designers without investment capital cannot develop their businesses. The financing of young brands and their long term development have already been explored at Hyères’ International Fashion and Textile Conferences in 2005 and 2009. Since then we have seen an evolution in the way young designers treat the financial aspect of their activity, as well as a broader understanding of the creative system by financial institutions. However it remains important to provide funding and tools to these young companies to allow them to develop commercially and install their brands. Fashion remains a sector that banks are unfamiliar with because it differs from traditional industry notably due to its immaterial quality and seasonal rhythm and so it’s essential that these organization’s investments are guaranteed. Consultancies and institutions like IFCIC (Institut pour le financement du Cinéma et des Industries Culturelles), Mode & Finance, overseen by CDC Entreprise, accompany young designers through the various stages of their development, provide financial aid and have gradually helped change the point of view of banks and investors. The financial tools to resolve the problems of cash flow and investment capital are in place and other means can be improved, notably the conditions for applying for collection tax credit.

It’s not possible to treat all the dimensions of this topic here because fashion and film have so many points in common. What emerges are questions of sociology and trends, the reflection of an era and questions about « realism ». Since the start of film, fashion saw this art as a promising market, a way to influence the public and dress the stars. So fashion quickly made itself useful creatively, notably as a way to set the scene. Yohji Yamamoto’s experience which is fascinating in its richness and diversity develops the question of the relationship between the director and the designer. Didn’t Yamamoto’s designs modify the scenario of Takeshi Kitano’s "Dolls" ? In France, the tradition of costume design is different according to Christophe Honoré who considers costume and set design a collective activity. In his films for example, the actors have a big influence on the costume choice. Far from considering this a star’s privilege, Honoré thinks it’s a reflection of their emotions. The question of « concrete reality » is also of primary importance : the creation of a film’s costumes is a big job for a director and simply dressing the principal actors leads them to another level of language, and to stand apart from the realism of the film. Everyone agrees that costumes go beyond a designer’s representation to participate completly in the direction and realism of a film. Designer and director : a complementary language ?

Magazines are true vectors of culture and imagery. But what place do they leave today for photography ? Isn’t it too often locked into the « twilight zone » of money culture ? The lack of space for creativity all too often gives photography a uniform quality. The photographer Jason Evans raises the question of the liberty of the author. Certain magazines like The new York Times Magazine and W Magazine are trying to change this by working with young photographers to construct fashion series which are more like stories than a celebration of a photographer’s fame. It’s also easier to develop creativity and originality for titles which aren’t weekly or biweekly. Certain magazines don’t innovate and have become stuck in the same trends influenced by the editor-in-chief and in-house stylists. Assigning is simply the act of looking for new ways. Some magazines have adopted this , notably on line titles which benefit from a large space for creativity. The Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival has also assigned itself this objective.

When one thinks of fashion, a vision of brands, visuals and runway shows typically comes to mind... We’re much less familiar with the names of the ateliers and artisans, those repositories of fashion’s « savoir-faire ». But creativity in fashion is directly linked to the savoir faire of technique which is both where clothes spring from and their future. A prime example of this is the international savoir faire presented at he French fabric fair Première Vision in its Maisons d’Exceptions space. How to protect this expertise without freezing it while continuing to modernize technique ? Louis XIV understood the necessity and the importance of French manufacturing. With the same spirit Marie-Hélène Bersani, Jean-Pierre Ollier and Dominique Barbiery show by their experience that if the credit due to a designer is understood, one can also promote the value of the manufacturers of fabrics and ornamentation. In this industrialized world it’s necessary to create a bridge between metiers, to increase communication and the human side because today the manufacturer is at the same time a the designer, a translator and an adaptor. Savoir faire can’t function as an antidote to uniformisation if it doesn’t take on these three roles and then only under the condition that it doesn’t become a museum piece. All the participants in this round table are in agreement that to preserve and create new techniques, transmission, an open exchange of savoir faire and creativity must work together.

The International Textile and Fashion Conferences are joint initiative with the Fédération française de la couture, du prêt à porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode and the Camera Nazionale della Moda Italiana, in association with DEFI and in collaboration with l’Institut Français de la Mode.